Ann Friedman writes about 16 women who've launched startups that haven't gotten Ezra- and Nate-like attention. One of those women is Vox co-founder Melissa Bell.
“The idea is that tech companies have a woman problem and these new startups have a woman problem,” says Melissa Bell, a cofounder of Vox. “But wait a sec, I’m the technologist and a woman.” After a Guardian story framed a series of new startups, including Vox, as boys’ clubs, Bell pushed back. Despite media narratives that have erased her from the equation, Bell is an equal cofounder. “It’s kind of a chicken and egg thing,” she says. “Is it the media’s fault for picking up on Ezra? Is it my fault for not speaking up?”

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Kristen Hare covers the media for the Poynter Institute. Her work for Poynter has earned her a Mirror Award nomination. Hare, a graduate of the University of Missouri's School of Journalism, spent 5 years as the Sunday features writer and an assistant editor at the St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press, and five years as a staff writer covering race, immigration, the census and aging at the St. Louis Beacon. She also spent two years with the Peace Corps in Guyana, South America. Hare and her family live outside Tampa.